You may enjoy working on your own, and be incredibly resourceful and talented. But the worst mistake is to think that you can attain success, all on your own steam. It’s a losing game!

It’s incredibly helpful and reassuring to bounce ideas off others, to brainstorm, to share resources, and to be held accountable. Whether it be through a buddy, a group of peers, or through working with a coach or mentor, it’s important not to go it alone, both in creating a lifestyle that fits you, and in carrying out your creative projects.

This is particularly the case for those who have many passions. It’s often difficult to figure out on your own what’s more important or how best to shape your life according to your deepest values and needs. It’s difficult to figure out what should be your priorities at any given time. Others can prove invaluable in helping you stand back and get new perspectives and make wise choices.

Where do you need support? What ways can you get it. Write down some ideas on a paper, and pick one of them to act on today!

1. Green Arts Barns Project in Toronto, was organized and built to provide eco- friendly living and studio space for artists, programming and facilities for community art and environmental education, and a central market place where artists and local and organic farmers can sell their produce. It’s a wonderful experience going to the Saturday market, being able to meet with one’s neighbours and share conversation, having a chance to buy fresh organic food , and being able at the same time to visit artists galleries and work spaces.
2. The efforts of musicians like Bono and U2 who held huge worldwide music concerts to raise money and consciousness around global climate change shows how artists can use their talents to foster change.
3. Artists, over the years, have broken the silence and taboos around AIDS, they’ve written plays, produced films, and created paintings and sculptures to bring home the human suffering and issues raised.
4. Patch Adams, a wonderful doctor, clown and social activist, has devoted over 30 years to changing the health care system. He brings a prescription of creativity, humor and joy to healing ourselves and the planet.
5. Thich Nhat Hanh, Budhist Monk, Zen master, and founder of  France’s Plum Village  meditation community is the  author of more than one hundred books of poetry, fiction and philosophy. He was also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.  He combines his artistic and creative talents, with spiritual practice and and  activism around issues of global peace.

So let’s look at ways we can be inspired by such examples and create our own unique blends of arts, activism and spirituality.

All of us are taught as we grow up our family and society’s ideas of success.  Few of us, have  the natural talents and personality traits that fit in well with all of what we’re taught.

Mostly, there’s some aspect of our being that doesn’t fit in to these beliefs and concepts of success.  And for some of us creative, modern renaissance types, the way we are just doesn’t mesh with the norm. We’ve been taught to think of ourselves as “flaky” because we have so many passions and interests and can’t seem to settle down.

The problem is we keep playing at a futile game, trying to please our family and our society, trying to adapt ourselves, and never feeling comfortable in our own skin.

If you are fed up with trying to fit in, here are three tips for creating success on one’s own terms:

1. Create a new mold. Whether you are 26 or 86, stop blaming yourself for not fitting in!  There are in fact an unlimited number of ways in which you can design life to suit your particular talents and personality make-up. You simply haven’t been shown what they are.Most people have never gotten clear about who they are and what their nature is. Or they’ve been trained for so many years to deny or ignore it that they can’t see it anymore. So, the first step is to rediscover and accept who you are.
2. Model creative people who have led successful and fulfilling multifaceted lives. Instead of seeing all the examples of people who seem to be perfectly satisfied with one career and passion, search for role models who have led lives with the variety and excitement you secretly yearn for.
3. Keep experimenting. Some ideas from your creative mentors may work for you. Others may not. Have the courage to use, adapt or discard what doesn’t fit. It takes awhile to figure out what works best.

   Get past the “shoulds” and then you can see the key things to focus on for the moment as well as what can be left for another time, or dropped entirely.  Lifestyle design changes over time, and is constantly adapted to what life brings you, as well as what you plan for.

How have you been limiting yourself by trying to fit in?  Which of these ideas can you use right away to create success on your own terms?  Go ahead and think of one step you can take today, to get you more aligned with your authentic self.